1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chewable confectionery composition and in particular to a chewing gum-confection composition having a pliable confectionery shell and a chewing gum core.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Confectionery products are sweet goods which are favored by virtually everyone. To remain competitive in this industry, those skilled in the confectionery arts are faced with the challenge of creating innovative products with unique variations in flavor characteristics, chewing texture and mouthfeel.
Chewing gums are confectionery goods which generally provide flavor, texture and the pleasure brought about by chewing. Chewing gums are usually comprised of a gum base, sweeteners and flavorants. The gum base is usually comprised of elastomers, elastomer solvents and additional components used to soften or plasticize the base such as fats and/or oils. Excessive amounts of fat and/or oil can however, cause the gum base to become gelatinous-like with an accompanying loss of structural integrity and breakdown upon chewing. In the case of bubblegum an excess of fat can also affect the bubble.
A popular form of candy having a pliable consistency is nougat. Nougats are perhaps the most complex of the generic confectionery bases, having no one single recipe but a variety of suggestions. Nougat is basically an aerated, high-boiled syrup containing fat that has been stabilized by the addition of whipping agent. The texture of nougat can range from long, chewy to short, grained depending on the crystal structure. Fats are traditionally used in pliable confections such as nougats to influence the texture and eating characteristics and essentially to lubricate the structure of the nougat, modify any stickiness and aid in the processing of the confection, e.g., cutting and manufacturing. Fat may also act as the flavor carrier. Because of their traditionally high fat content, nougats are not readily combined with chewing gum in confectionery compositions without the fat in the nougat adversely affecting the gum base upon chewing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,817 to Sapsowitz discloses a chewing gum having a smooth, fine-grained flaccid skin and a nougat-like interior. The gum is prepared from conventional chewing gum base, added sugar and conventional additives using precise processing parameters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,345 to Tezuka et al. discloses a chewing gum base to be used in combination with confectionery materials having a high fat content, especially chocolates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,199 to Cherukuri et al. discloses a sweetener containing chewing gum having a nougat-like or fondant-like structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,823 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,825 to Cherukuri et al. disclose coextruded chewing gums containing a substantially soft core portion and an outer shell portion provided to protect the inner portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,907 to Knebl et al. discloses a chewy confection having an outer casing comprising chewing gum base and a sweetener, and a center filling that is an aerated plastic blend. The center filling is described as having a consistency similar to that of the casing so that at first bite through the confection the center filling is not readily distinguished.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,905 to Huzinec discloses a single phase chewing gum candy formed by mixing a melted chewing gum base with a cooked hard candy sorbitol syrup.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,090 to Della Posta et al. discloses a compressed confectionery product and in particular, a method for making the product. The product is comprised of two or more compressed layers which can be used to provide different physical or chemical characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,806 to Cherukuri et al. teach an anhydrous layered chewing gum composition comprising at least two different chewing gum compositions non-homogeneously combined, that differ in gum base content and may contain the same or different flavoring agents and sweeteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,879 to Kabse et al. discloses a multi-layer chewing gum having layers of chewing gum sandwiched about a hydrophillic gel-creme confection layer.
JP 83018052 assigned to Kuraray discloses a chewing gum intermixed with nougat. The product also requires, inter alia, the presence of fibrous milk proteins.
PCT/US94/03238 assigned to Wrigley discloses novel chewing gum products which are multiphase, sheeted chewing gum products wherein a second confectionery mass is embedded in a first chewing gum mass.
Despite the forgoing efforts, none of the prior art provides a chewable confectionery product which combines a pliable confection such as a short, grained nougat as an outer shell with a chewing gum inner core. It would be desirable to provide a chewable confectionery composition which combines the confectionery texture provided by a short, grained nougat-type confection with the long chew provided by a chewing gum without any loss of structural integrity, texture, mouthfeel, flavor and organoleptic properties of the two components.